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Just thought I would put this out there as it beggars belief. Our continuing window saga goes on with the exchange of a faulty glass unit from the initial install which had a dropped glazing bar during manufacture and this was evident when you looked out of the window. The reason for the post is when the window was installed it was mean't to have a solar coating to reduce the heat from the sun as it is South facing and I was convinced it was either not working or was put in the wrong way round. Internorm assured me this was not the case and all was correct with the window. I waited for the new glass unit to arrive and made sure it was made to the correct spec from our install and I was assured it would be. The technical manager with Internorm had assured me that it did not matter which way round the window is put in as the solar coating is on the inside of both exterior panes so it worked regardless of orientation. (Do we have an idea where this is heading.) The new glass unit was replaced, by a different company as our original Internorm dealer now no longer works with Internorm. So to put you in the picture, we have 5 South facing windows and the unit that was replaced was part of a sliding door consisting of two units and another window approx two metres away ( all South facing). So when the sun did come out I could put both hands on to a glass unit, each one different but adjacent to one another and you could physically feel the difference between the two surfaces. I contacted the technical manager and he assured me again that there was nothing wrong and it could be the sun bouncing round the room and creating different angles within the room, or the sun was at a different angle to each of the windows and after all it did not matter as the coating is as above. Time went on and I thought I will purchase some fish tank thermometers and low and behold, I put one on each South facing window including the two on the roof terrace and the four original windows where all within a degree of each other but the replaced glass unit was always reading 8 to 9 degrees higher. I then sent the Internorm technical manager the results of my experiment and he sent me an email back confirming that indeed the glass unit is indeed installed the wrong way round and said he was sorry that the new window company had installed it the wrong way round!! I was absolutely speechless, this is on top of our window installation taking over twelve months and we are still waiting for an outstanding trim to turn up. At no point did the technical manager check the spec on our windows after all the previous correspondence and now he is blaming the new window company. When I advised this tech manager that I would be seeking compensation he informed me that he did not deal with this side of things and I would need to speak with the area manager who came out to our site back in April to see what all the problems where has now decided to ignore numerous phone calls, voicemails and numerous emails including Whats app messages. I have sent loads of emails to Internorm over the last twelve months , always including the MD and he has never replied to what has been an absolute shambles of an installation between the installation company and Internorm.

Combine the chaos of building work, attempting to project manage various tradesmen and coordination of items, living and working in a caravan and not knowing where we were going to live in 3 weeks time with a stressful period at work and I finally had a complete meltdown. I've been pulling my hair out (literally) so have 2 inch pieces of hair in places where I've ripped it out through stress, I look like a lovely female version of Freddie Kruger (great ? attempt) due to a stress skin reaction and anyone who asked me how I was in the last couple of weeks either got an emotional bursting into tears response or something Father Jack would utter, minus the drink. There has just been numerous things building up. I'm trying to take a bit of a back seat and the wife has stepped up to deal with a lot of things to take the pressure off me for a little while whilst I give myself a good talking to and get myself in check. Good news though slightly irnoic - the lockdown has resulted in the caravan park letting us stay in the caravan so that is one thing sorted as potentially we were going to be homeless as things are behind schedule due to three different tradesmen having to isolate due to Covid. The plus, our plasterer is amazing and has literally been on site at 6am and has worked into the small hours. He's one step away from moving in with his camping stove - I did offer him a sleeping bag and tent. This is what will be the double doors from the master bedroom into the dressing room/walk in wardrobe - basically another room that's actually bigger than our bedroom! Yes we have a lot of clothes and shoes ...... Still no solar panels in but our first fix has been done and the majority of the roof has been sorted though everything still needs something finishing off! Due to the impromptu arrival of our kitchen we managed to get our front door on so here is an early peek of that. The frame is like a stainless steel/aluminium which I'm not sure about but hopefully once the render is on will look OK.

Overall it went swimmingly well, couple of minor issues but soon resolved and need to return to sort out a handle issue but John Knight Glass were, IMO really great and for final sign off we wait for contact over next couple weeks when someone else comes to site to check everything with us so enough time to raise any snagging issues hopefully. Despite some panic on the canal bridge when the trailer was about 8 inches off the floor, everyone held their breath when the glass got over successfully. The other option being discussed was asking CRT who were dredging at the time to transport them to us. Although that didn't happen, I'd of been quite pleased to see that ? The windows we picked were the aluclad UPVV studio KF320 windows and KS430 sliding door and we are more than happy with them. A couple from work in progress. It was nice as the sun was setting getting some pictures of the house today, finally with the windows.

I remain very happy with the quality and wind proofness of my Internorm triple glazed windows but we are just being to realize what a pain inward tilt and inward opening windows are going to be w.r.t to curtain and blind installation. Anyone got tilt and turn windows and if so how did you/do you plan to dress them?

We have Internorm triple glazed HF210 windows. Some have a little hard to get out lock and some don't, yet the order shows 'Night Vent' on most windows. Trouble is the manual does not state what 'Night Vent' is. Is the Internorm Night Vent this silly impossible to access lock? Thanks

Due to various complications fitting of the two final (Internorm HF210 Alu-clad triple glazed, bleeding heavy) windows is down to me and my chippy. The chippy has fitted windows before (me never) but not using the expanding window tape foam supplied. Some quick questions * how long after applying the tape - do you have before it expands (assuming 5-10 degrees outside temp) - seconds or minutes? * why is one edge of the tape covered in a plastic looking film - does that go on the outside or inside face? * are the metal securing straps installed before/after the tape? * any tips? Cheers

Hi everyone, I'm a "mature" retired electronic/electrical design engineer come computer networking consultant come PH self builder. See following link for existing building details. http://passivhausprojekte.de/#k_4186 Currently designing second PH for construction in Brinkworth, on Woodbridge park golf course. Build commences 2nd August. Also designing next door neighbours from PHPP perspective. Scandanavian Lodge design ( planning requirement), Isoquick insulated raft foundation, Beco ICF walls (polstyrene lego bricks according to my wife!), attic trussed warm roof. Approx. 240m2 and 550m3 gross including voids which are within thermal and airtight envelope. Techie bit. Hmm.. The intension was to have very similar to current house as it works well! However no mains gas so all electric. MVHR to be a Paul Novus 300 with Lindab rigid safe ducting, silencers etc. Thermal store to be Akva Nero 750l (current house has Akvaterm std tank of 500l with top and bottom DHW coils giving up to 35l per min). Change of size result of no mains gas and probable use of Eco7 electric to supplement Solar PV via Immersun PWM switch to two high temp immersions. Space heating via VEAB CCW 125-6-2.5 in living area duct branch only - no active heating to bedrooms. Summer active cooling via VEAB CWK 125-6-2.5 in bedroom ducting only or VEAB CWK 160-6-2.5 for all areas... 3kW ASHP air to water supplying the VEAB CWK. Secondary DHW loop to provide "instant" hot water to all areas with little potted water wastage (as per current house). Well that was the plan until I discovered Sunamp and Zehnder Comfocool Q600! So undecided now although no apparent pricing/availability of Sunamp Stack.... Sunamp PV 5kW units look good but only a fraction of the capacity of a 750l TS. Multiple units look very expensive by comparison. However, need to make a decision soon I guess.......